Monica Bedi’s conviction upheld, sentence reduced

The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the conviction of actress Monika Bedi, girlfriend of underworld don Abu Salem, in the fake passport case but reduced her sentence to period of jail term she had already undergone. A bench of justices B Sudershan Reddy and S S Nijjar rejected Monika’s plea that she could not be convicted in India as it would amount to ‘double jeopardy’ since she had been convicted by the Portugal court for the same offence.

The apex court, however, reduced her sentence to the period of imprisonment she had already undergone (two-and-half years).

The apex court passed the judgement while dismissing Monika’s appeal challenging her conviction and five years sentence awarded by a sessions court in Hyderabad and reduced to three years by the Andhra Pradesh High Court.

The apex court also upheld the conviction of two other co-accused in the case